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Hey everyone, Lanky Man back for the 4th and final installment of “From Tiny to Toned” when we left off last week, I’d outlined some of the popular gyms and the various features they offer they’re members. I hope this may have helped anyone looking to join a gym and offered insight on which one may fit best for their needs. I’d also mentioned how Fit4Less was the organization I’d decided to sign up for, so for the past couple weeks I’ve been going a few times each week and getting a feel for the equipment. This has helped me develop a workout routine which is going to be the main topic for my post this week, so sit back, relax and see how my plan all comes together in this final entry.

When it came to developing a workout routine, I tried to focus first on how many times I planned on going to the gym per week. I decided 4 nights a week, resting every other night would be a good place to start, then I had to determine which days would involve which areas of my body to focus on. I made sure that each day would involve areas that I could workout independently from one another, that way I wasn’t wearing out my entire arm, core, or leg muscles each night, just areas within them. With this in mind I was able to make a simple 4 day routine consisting of;

Day 1: Chest and Triceps

Day 2: Shouldersand Trap

Day 3: Back, Biceps and Abs

Day 4: Legs, Calves and Abs

By following this routine each week, I would be able to work out my entire body and begin fresh at the beginning of each new week. Now that the weekly routine is outlined, let’s get a little bit more in depth for what each day had in store for me.

Before doing any of these exercise routines I read an interesting quote from from MensHealth.co.uk that said, “Don’t get drawn into an ego battle with the barbell exercises. Bench heavy but slow, retaining control throughout the lift for maximum effect.”. I initially thought this advice to be a bit of a no-brainer, but upon my first few trips to the gym it couldn’t have been proven more useful. Walking into my local Fit4Less and seeing all these people much more toned and muscular than me, almost made me feel like I had to keep pace with them or I wasn’t really working out properly, this couldn’t be more untrue though. It’s important to always exercise at your own pace and take breaks when necessary to ensure you stay safe and don’t exhaust yourself before the workout has really even started.

Each day I began my session with a 15 minute cardio warmup to get my heart-rate up followed by some stretching to reduce the risks of cramps and muscle spasms. I would then move on to my exercises for the night usually following a system of 3-4 sets, and then 6-8 repetitions within each set.

Quora’s guide to determine your optimal number of reps based on your desired goals

I’d heard from a friend that taking rests in between sets was important for allowing muscles to recover and be able to perform the following sets with proper form and function. After a quick look on MensFitness.com, I found the ideal time between my sets was 60-90 seconds, this really made a difference from my initial tests and allowed me to work harder and longer with a much more consistent form.

This was really the mentality that I think makes all the difference when starting a physical exercise routine. It’s important to be aware of what your limitations are and know that initially things are going to be hard and you may not be at the same position as others, but with time and effort you will get there. I think it’s important to know that going to gym, or eating healthier, or even setting up a plan for a lifestyle change are all excellent when used alone, but together they can really change your entire life. I hope everyone enjoyed these past few weeks of posts and the story of my journey up to this point. I’m interested to hear what exercises some of you are doing at the gym or just in your daily life and whether you think the value of a healthier lifestyle will continue to be a growing interest in people. I thank everyone who read and commented on these posts and I hope you enjoyed what I was writing. For the final time this semester, this is Lanky Man signing out!

Social Media Posts

Twitter: “For anyone looking to develop or incorporate new workout routines into their experience at the gym, MensFitness.com has some amazing resources to explore!”

Facebook: “Don’t forget everyone, the key to a successful workout routine is to make sure every muscles receives the attention it deserves even the sometimes daunting, “LEG DAY” !

Hey everyone, Lanky Man here back again for another exciting segment of “From Tiny to Toned”. Last week’s post about proper eating habits ended with a question about what facilities or gyms if any that my readers attended and a bit about why. I managed to get some feedback, and it will be very helpful in discussing this weeks topic about choosing the right facility for my journey to muscular and toned glory. So without further ado let’s get right into this weeks post.

When it comes to choosing a gym or place for working out there are hundreds of options from home gyms, private gyms, free public gyms and even punching cow carcasses in a meat locker. For my search though I decided to narrow my results to 3 popular gym franchises at a high, medium and low price point to see what my money was getting me.

My research began with the Movati Athletic Club, a gym that has several locations across Ottawa and Canada and is considered by most(myself included) to be on the premium side of fitness centres.

Logo for Movati Athletic Clubs 2017

On their site, they really have an easy way to navigate the menus that gives you a premium experience before you’ve gone anywhere near their gyms. They even have a 360 degree virtual tour of their facility that really showcases how premium of an experience you can expect. They offer members access to swimming classes, cycling classes, a kid’s club and even a cafe in all their facilities. They really show everything they have to offer their members here and make it immediately clear this is a next level experience aimed to a higher type of client. One thing I had the hardest time finding though was the actual costs of this facility. Even after signing up for an email to receive the costs I was told to make an appointment for that kind of information, I’ve always found that when they don’t show the price, it’s usually pretty high. After finding a post on Reddit, this was confirmed by a comment mentioning a $100-120 initial sign-up fee, and payments of $33.84 bi-weekly to total roughly $947.59 per year. Now there are of course promotions that may waive certain fees but this seems like the basic full-cost plan. This is definitely a gym that holds itself at a higher premium status and wishes to find clients looking for that. Even though many of the facilities can be found elsewhere for slightly cheaper, you can tell this place prides itself on a higher quality experience that can’t be found elsewhere.

The next facility I moved on to was the extremely popular Goodlife Fitness, with about 100 locations in Ontario alone this is a massive Canadian gym franchise, that offers a gym experience for the average user.

Logo for Goodlife Fitness 2017

On the main site for Goodlife Fitness it’s easy to navigate for first time visitors and mentions the various facilities that are offered to members. You have your standard things like fitness machines, an indoor track and massage, to unique features like tanning, squash courts and even a virtual fitness centre. This allows member to participate in streamed classes of aerobics, yoga and martial arts either alone or as part of a group. However not everything was so easy to find on this site, I was again faced with the problem of finding what a membership would cost. Luckily I came across the site GymMembershipFees.com and was able to see that a Goodlife member ship ranges from $59.99-$69.99 a month and about $719.00-$839.00 a year. This seems to be their constant fee with the idea of no initial joining costs, these seems to have been dropped years ago in order to lower prices and likely attract more members. This is definitely a middle-man any person gym and even with a cost close to Movati, the lack of initial going fee may seal the deal for many people.

The final facility that I’m going to talk about is actually owned by Goodlife Fitness, is on the significantly lower scale of our price options and began opening locations relatively recently. Fit4Less aims to satisfy people looking to workout and not pay and arm and a leg for it, it seeks to attract budget conscious members to its facilities.

Logo for Fit4Less 2017

From the first glance as their site loaded on my browser it’s clear that Fit4Less aims to offer a fairly barebones workout experience at a reflecting cost. It was really interesting that of all the sites I visited this was the only one that let me see a membership cost, and not only that, it seems to be a highlighting feature. For $10.00-$20.00 monthly or an upfront fee of $120.00-$240.00 a year. It seems like Fit4Less also includes many of these same facilities as GoodLife, but with an emphasis on cutting the extra things like personal training, swimming pools and showers to save on costs. It’s definitely a barebones approach to fitness, but it makes a lot of sense for people who may never use those facilities at all. It’s also a fraction of the price of its competitors so being able to put up with a little less flair to save on cost actually seems like a healthy compromise.

So it seems like in the overall scheme of things, each gym shares the basics like water-fountains, weight lifting equipment, cardio equipment and things like tanning and massage. However for extra features like showers, relaxation areas, pools, trainers and classes this is what you pay extra for. Essentially every gym has a value of $120.00-$240.00 per year, but it’s really up to the person to decide if paying an extra $500.00-$700.00 on top of that is worth more than the fitness aspect alone. For these reasons I have decided to sign up with Fit4Less, since it works within my budget as a student and offers the services that really matter to my cause. I’m going to a gym for the sole purpose of working out, and as long is I am able to take advantage of that aspect, the extra features on top aren’t very important to me.

Thanks for reading this weeks post everyone! Please let me know what gyms mentioned or not interest you the most. For sneak peek into next week’s post let me know what part of your body you’re most interested in improving, once again the is Lanky Man signing out!

Social Media Posts:

Facebook:

“Signed up at fit4Less today! The rates are really reasonable, so who wants to sign up and get that grind going?”

Hey everyone, when I left off last week I’d already given a brief account of my story, and the general theme around these blog posts, I also left off with a question to my readers about any high calorie recipes or recommendations they may have when preparing healthy meals. I got some really excellent feedback and so without further ado, let’s get right in to this weeks post.

When I first started my research about proper eating, one sources had mentioned that in order to properly gain you have to eat more. This may sound like a no-brainer to most people(myself included), but what caught my eye was the mention of calorie counting. I’d always thought this was something used for losing weight, but as the author states, “Add 500 calories per day to gain weight. For the 60kg/135lb skinny guy 2112 maintenance calories becomes 2612kcal/day”. Since I’m starting at 135lbs I knew destiny(or google search) had sent me to this site, so using this as a launchpad I began meal planning.

Now one of the readers on my earlier commented that filling up on protein should also be a part since the goal isn’t only to gain weight, but also tone it into muscle(we’ll be discussing this in a later entry). So with that in mind I had to calculate how much protein I would need to intake along with my roughly 2500 calories per day.

Some of the information used in the calculation process

Using the following information from BodyBuilding.com I was able to determine that in order to gain muscle along with mass I would have to intake 193g of protein per day. With this in mind I set about to find meal solutions that would help satisfy this number.

After a quick look online I found a great meal planner on BodyBuilding.com (I’m seriously starting to think these guys should sponsor me). It again uses the idea of a personalized calorie calculator to offer meals and snack option that will satisfy that number. In my case the roughly 2500 calories I was required to take in everyday is split across 5 meals each offering a few options for variety. This is great for people who may dislike or choose not to eat meat, tofu or certain foods, they have a lot of different meals that all add up to the same amount of calories.

I’ve never been a breakfast eater so the category on snacks is something I’ll be focusing on more than twice a day. That’s what’s great about this site, I was able to see that the roughly 500 calories I would miss from breakfast can be made up with 2 extra snacks throughout the day. It helps you mix and match plans so any calories missed can be easily picked up later.

With all this in mind though it’s important not to go over the recommended amount of daily protein intake. Medicinenet.com says that excess protein(over 35% per day) can lead to an buildup in ketones that affect the kidneys and lead to dehydration. Symptoms can include fatigue, headaches and dizziness. It’s important to make sure your diet accurately reflects your level of exercise for optimal results and reduced risk of health concerns.

Based on the feedback from my previous post it seems a lot of people are in a similar situation but in the opposite side where weight loss is a primary goal, I’m interested to hear what kinds of dieting or meal plans you find to work best? Also as a Segway into next week I’m interested to hear what gym or organizations you may be a part and why? Until then this is Lanky Man signing out.

Social Media Posts;

Facebook;

“Found some excellent tips on calorie counting and meal planning on BodyBuilding.com, it’s also full of training and community posts to help with all aspects of the fitness journey! Check them out everyone, there’s some great stuff on here”.

For years I’d never worried about the way I looked, the foods I ate or the things I was able to do. I’d always followed the natural weight for age ratio since birth, I had a healthy complexion (albeit those uncomfortable teenage years) and I was blessed with a metabolism that never left a pound on me longer than an hour. I was completely adequate in every aspect of my health; however when it came to my overall look, I was undeniably A Lanky Man.

For anyone unfamiliar with the term, “lanky is used to describe someone who is tall, thin and typically moves clumsily due to these attributes”. Now before anyone runs to a mirror or gets worried about whether they may be lanky, don’t. Our bodies are all unique and beautiful, and in some cases lankiness can be attributed to having a thinner muscle structure that stretches further across joints due to their length. This is why it’s most commonly seen in basketball player and people who are over 6 feet tall.

<-(In the red we see NBA star chuck Nevitt who stood a towering 7 foot 5, and is a prime example of a lanky frame)

Now that we’re all on the same page, let’s get down to how I planned on overcoming my spaghetti arms.

I started with a quick google search for workout routines and after comparing across a few sources, I was able to find a guide on GQ.com that could help ease me into a routine and build upon it each week (oh yeah this a progress blog! we’re in this together now). It said to begin by finding my target bodyweight. So after an initial weigh-in a came in at just under 135 pounds and height

check of 5’8 (not quite the 7’5 of Chuck Nevitt, but I’m still growing) it was time to calculate where I should be. GQ says, “take height in centimetres and minus 100, that’s your goal weight in kilograms”. After some quick math that came to roughly 178cm – 100cm = 78, 78kg = 171lbs.

(A double check from Google proved that GQ’s calculations were fairly close to where ideal weight should be)->

This seemed like fairly substantial gain and after checking google it wasn’t too far off. On average a 5’8 male should weigh between 139 and 169 pounds. I decided to set my target weight as 150 so it fell roughly in the middle of the scale. With this in mind I now have a starting point for creating a diet and developing a workout routine which will be covered in the coming weeks. If anyone has any recommendations for foods or meals that they think I should look into please let me know, I’m not picky whatsoever and could use all the help I can get. Thanks for reading everyone and make sure to tune in next week for another Tiny to Toned!

Twitter:

“Here we go everyone! The first weigh-in let’s get this show on the road” #Gains

FaceBook:

If anyone has any recommendations for gyms I’m thinking about signing up this week and could use some help over here!!!